The Big Red Button
by mario.filipe.94043
Summary: The phone call which begans it all , the place which never was, and some mystery creature hidden in plain sight, mix every single thing alongside with some red buttons and very well-known mystery-creator person and you have a truly mysterious and dangerous adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, this is a remake of an old story I wrote some time ago, as I upgraded my writing skills since I started to write, I thought I should remake this episode, the old story is already deleted to avoid confusions, and now without further ado, let the adventure unfold.**

The Doctor was walking around the TARDIS´console panel holding an extremely bored look. Clara, clueless about how to help him, sat down in a chair observing him, suddenly a phone ring echoed throughout the room.

The Doctor pointed at the phone, and then he smiled.

"Do we have a phone?" inquired Clara surprised.

"Oh, come on just look at where we are" he picked up the phone "Yes? Speaks the Doctor" he paused for a bit "uh… wha… who? A mission?" he paused again, then he suddenly looked delighted "Oh, red buttons?" he placed the phone on his shoulder and turned to Clara "I love red buttons" he whispered to her, Clara stared weirdly at him and the Doctor listened to the phone again "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I´m still here, and of course you can count on me" He hung up the phone with a really happy expression

"Who was it?" inquired Clara curious.

"I don´t know" he became thoughtful "Female voice, a weirdly familiar female voice actually, but she insisted on not telling her name… anyway" he clapped once "We are going to Vorlith, we are going there to explore a cave, but none of that matters, the point here is:" he smiled, he seemed very excited "There are red buttons" Clara became astonished "Big red buttons involved"

"Big red buttons?"she cried out in a shade of surprise "Don´t you think it is a bit weird description about the mission?" the Doctor made a face "I don´t know, but I believe they should tell you about the risks, er… the treasures, I mean, the mission itself, not about… buttons"

The Doctor looked insulted.

"Hey, shut , buttons are important as well, they are even more important…no" he corrected himself "much more important than those little… silly…things" he ran to the console panel and pulled a lever "Anyway, off we go Clara!"

The TARDIS shuddered for a few seconds, and then she stopped.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS´door and saw a lonely, rocky dark planet, he also saw some people walking around with great reconnaissance equipment.

The Doctor left the TARDIS holding a really enthusiastic look and Clara smiled when she noticed it.

"You look a bit overexcited, what is it?

"Nothing" he replied "It´s just I´ve never been on this planet before" he looked at everywhere "This is completely new for me" he turned no Clara "And new is cool… but" he emphasized the 'but´ word smiling "The most important thing is: There are red buttons in here"

The doctor moved towards the people there.

"Hello" he greeted them "I am the Doctor, this is" he pointed at Clara "Clara, my companion… but you should probably know that already" he began to look everywhere as if he wanted to find a specific person "Some of you invited me after all… anyway" he shuffled his hands "Where are the buttons?"

"Buttons?" the man asked clueless, the Doctor looked suspiciously at him "Oh" he seemed to understand "Those buttons… they are inside that cave" he pointed at it "Over there, you see?" both Clara and the Doctor turned to the cave "Your mission starts there" the man finished.

The man bowed before them, the Doctor made a face and Clara laughed.

The Doctor and Clara entered into the cave, there they saw a small cubic room with some ancient stone inscription at its end.

"But" the Doctor looked annoyed "Is this the cave?!" He shouted and Clara looked rapidly at him, surprised by his shout "Is this little cubic annoying box the cave?"

"What were you expecting?" Clara inquired.

"I don´t know" his voice tone remained loud "Some fancy sciency wiency stuff here, some cool buttons o…ver …there" his voice tone lowered down when he realized there were no seeable buttons "And where are the buttons, anyways?"

"Something else?" Clara asked while looking suspiciously at the deepest part of the cavern.

"Yes, actually there is… this could be also slightly more bigger than" he looked annoyed at the cave "This"

"More bigger, seriously?" Clara exclaimed while approaching that weird object.

"Oh, come on, you are not willing to teach me grammar" he stared at her for a few moments "Are you? I invented it… and yes, you can say more bigger, it basically means it is bigger than… bigger"

"You… invented grammar?" She asked, turning to him surprised.

"Yes" he replied "Don´t ask me why, not important" he made a thoughtful face "Actually, it is, but not for today"

Clara then observed cautiously that thing, the Doctor was already about to leave.

"Hey" she shouted at him "Look at this"

The Doctor looked back at her.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I…" she looked again at the inscription "I don´t know, some kinds of letters… I guess"

The Doctor became intrigued. Consequently, he ran towards Clara and observed it.

"Oh" he recognized those letters"It is Maarean" he turned to Clara "An ancient language…" he started to think "One of the first, if I´m not wrong"

"Can you read it?" she asked promptly.

"Maybe… I had some classes of it as a student" he took the inscription from Clara´s hands "Let me see"

The Doctor began to study the lettering, and then he read it

"You won´t pass, ever

If you are not clever"

The Doctor smiled "A puzzle" he turned to Clara still happily "I love puzzles" Clara made a face at him.

"Ok, you love buttons and you love puzzles, quite a coincidence don´t you think?"

"Maybe" he looked thoughtful "But I´m in a rush now…anyway, it doesn´t matter, I already know what we have to do, or better… to have"

"What?" she said clueless.

"Oh, c´mon, isn´t it obvious?"

"No, are you still talking about the inscription?"

"No… I´m talking about the cinema you watched last night" he said sarcastically and Clara started to seem thoughtful "Of course I´m talking about the inscription" he finished.

Clara looked suspiciously at him.

"How can you possibly know what I did last night?"

The Doctor seemed embarrassed.

"That doesn´t matter" he said "Anyway, the answer is: Intelligence, we need intelligence to move on" he smiled and acted all cocky "Luckily… we got…" he pointed at himself "Me!"

As soon as he pronounced these words, a big red button popped up from the ground right in front of them.

"He ha, " he laughed "A button" he shouted "A big red button as they promised " he looked at Clara "I think we should press it, right? That´s what buttons are for, I guess"

Clara nodded and the Doctor was about to press it.

"Ok Clara, prepare yourself… 3…2…1…GEROONIMOOO"

He pressed the button, and then they suddenly dematerialized and materialized again in a similar, however bigger, cubic field.

"But" Clara looked everywhere confused "The room changed"

"No" the Doctor said, scanning all the area with his sonic screwdriver "We changed… don´t ask me how and why, I don´t know either"

"Hello sweetie" someone behind them said with a sensual voice tone.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor turned back and discovered River Song alongside with some soldiers behind him.

"You!" he stated smiling at her.

"Me" she finished with the same sensual voice

"Of course it would be you, silly me" he observed the room cautiously and then he turned to River "Anyway,what are you doing here, River?"

"Oh" she smiled even more "You didn´t forget my name yet"

"How could I?" he seemed nostalgic.

River went towards Clara, the Doctor kept staring at her.

"Hello" River pointed at the Doctor "Did he talk about me?"

Clara hesitated for a bit.

"Not really" she replied trying not to be unpleasant.

River turned to the Doctor and smiled, he returned her smile.

"My doctor" she turned to Clara "It´s okay, he never does"

"Big red buttons" the Doctor interrupted them speaking out loud, both River and Clara turned to him "You know me too well… big red buttons, you knew I wouldn´t refuse a request made like that, the question is: Why would you want to have me in here?" River was about to reply "Oh,and please, don´t say spoilers"

"Ok… it´s not spoilers" she stated "Even though I´m now spoiling that it´s not spoilers" she began to move slowly towards the Doctor.

The Doctor noticed something or someone behind Clara, but somehow he tried to hide it not telling anyone about it.

"Anyway… weren´t you in Stormcage?" he drew River´s attention when he realized she was turning to Clara.

"Yes, I was" she turned to the Doctor again "But I´m not anymore, they let me out… I spent too much time there"

"Sure they did" he laughed.

Meanwhile, Clara was investigating the room cautiously by herself.

"Hey, Doctor!" she shouted, he turned to her "There is another inscription here"

"Ok" he clapped and seemed a bit more serious"What´s this River?" she sensually smiled "You brought us to a place where buttons pop up from the ground, where ancient writings are everywhere and only God knows what else this place might be hiding" he started to observe the whole cave.

"Oh!" River looked surprised "You don´t know this place yet!"

"Was I supposed to know?" he inquired confusedly.

"It depends" she became closer to the Doctor "Don´t you listen to rumors and tales?" she began to walk around the Doctor.

"You know me" he said following River´s look "I can´t believe in those things, and you should do the same" he advised.

"Ok" she said "But your very essence is a tale on its own, are you trying to deny yourself?"

The Doctor became smug.

"Yeah… except me" he straightened his bowtie "But tell me, why did you come?" he asked seconds later.

"You know me, tales, adventures…I couldn´t resist" said sensually "And what about you, Doctor?" He looked fishy at her "Thousands of years engraved on that stone, aren´t you curious to read that inscription?"

"Yeah, yeah, the inscription, always the inscription" he grumbled.

The Doctor walked towards the inscription and started to read it out loud.

"Like a cross

It will be a loss

If you push

The ones who rush"

As soon as he finished these words, five buttons popped up from the ground arranged in straight.

"Oh" he seemed clueless about how to solve this enigma, then he scratched his head and turned to River, and then he started to laugh.

"Ok" Clara said surprised "What´s funny?"

River went closer to Clara.

"This is the part where he makes fun of me" she whispered it to Clara however, she didn´t seem to understand.

"Now I see" the Doctor shouted while still laughing "You called me because you became stuck inside here, you have no idea how to leave this place, do you?"

"I guess that is one way of seeing things" she smiled "But now that you are here, can you do it?"

"Asking as if I had a choice" he paused to think about what he just said "Do I have a choice?" he finished

"I´m afraid you don´t… or, you have if you prefer to stay with me forever" she stated firm and Clara stared uneasily at them.

"I thought so" he sighed "Okay then" he shuffled his hands "Like a cross, cross, what cross means?" he started to look at Clara and River in the hope that they would reply something.

"Two lines, I guess" Clara said doubtfullly.

"Yes!" he shouted snapping his fingers towards her "But no" he shuffled his hands again "Five buttons, four walls, no two involved" said it really quickly "It must be something else… any ideas?"

"It´s four lines if you count the divided ones" stated River.

"Four walls, four lines…maybe… let me check that" the Doctor then analyzed the walls with his sonic screwdriver "Oh, but what are you?" he seemed both incredulous and exultant and began to canoodle the wall, Clara stared suspiciously at him, River talked to the soldiers behind her,and then the Doctor turned to them again "You can forget these walls, they have nothing to hide"

"What did you see in those walls" asked Clara suspicious.

"Nothing, nothing you would understand… anyway" he clapped and turned to River "Where did you get that scratch, River?" he pointed at the scratch "That one" he pointed at it "In your arm"

"This?" she showed him her scratch "It happened a while ago after I pressed the first button"

"First?" he looked fishy at the buttons "Which first?"

"The left one" River stated.

"So there are consequences, the ones who rush, the ones which shouldn't be pressed" he turned to everyone "Any ideas?"

Nobody answered.

"Ok, great" he became thoughtful "Actually, not so great… anyway, a cross, a cross can be seen either as two lines" he looked at Clara "But it can also be seen as four" he looked at River "However, it must mean something else, something… obvious, something connected to those buttons" he suddenly lifted both of his forefinger and he acted like he discovered something "Wait, let me check one little thing"

The Doctor ran towards the buttons and analyzed them with the sonic.

"Woah" he shouted amazed "All the buttons are…"

"Identical at subatomic levels" River concluded interrupting him.

"Yeah" the Doctor looked fishy at River "How did you know that?"

"I checked it before" she said.

"Right" he prolonged the word "So" he clapped "Cross, what can cross possibly mean? Something related to five" he added.

The next few seconds were of absolute silence, suddenly…

"Points" Clara shouted a bit excited.

The Doctor looked thoughtful, and then he turned slowly to Clara.

"Points" he shouted excited as well pointing at Clara with both forefingers "Of course, a point-based cross, it is a five pointed cross" he smiled at Clara "Oh, you are a genius… so, five points, five buttons, the question is: The ones who rush, which ones rush?"

The room fell into a deep silence, once again.

"Maybe" River started.

"That´s it River" the Doctor interrupted her smiling and pointing at her "Wait… what were you going to say?"

"The middle button" the Doctor smiled even more, Clara didn´t seem to get it "A cross" she turned to Clara "If you imagine a cross, a cross made of spiky buttons, all of the four external points sting, the internal one can´t do that, in other words, it can´t hurt"

"And, if you consider the middle point the central one" the Doctor interrupted finishing River "And… if you pretend the buttons are the points, the middle button is the answer"

Clara seemed to understand, River, without further ado, went towards the buttons.


	3. Chapter 3

River pressed the button and, once again, everybody was teleported to another similar room however, they seemed they were suffering from a slight headache.

"Again?" Clara shouted either annoyed and dizzy "When will this stop?"

"I don´t know" the Doctor replied, not so dotty, then he began to observe thoroughly this new place.

River walked towards the new inscription and began to read it.

"Different from the first

If you see it right

Equal to the second

If you see it wrong"

The Doctor glared at River suspiciously.

"Since when you can read Maarean?" he asked intrigued.

"I learned from the best, sweetie" River replied sensually.

"Oh, I see" the Doctor seemed cocky and straightened his bow tie, then he looked thoughtful "It´s weird, but I can´t remember it… I wonder why"

"You wasn´t there" River smiled.

"Oh" the Doctor seemed a bit embarrassed "It was not me"

"I never said it was" River interrupted him.

"Right" he finished, it makes sense… I guess"

At that time, five red round buttons popped up from the ground like the earlier ones.

"Really?" the Doctor shouted and looked outraged "Again those blasted buttons?" he growled.

Clara looked surprised.

"Weren´t you who loved buttons?"

"Yes" he replied "Loved… past tense, the truth is that I don´t like them anymore"

"Past tense?" she lifted her voice tone a bit "You just ablazed yourself about those same buttons minutes ago"

"Past tense, as I said" he replied "Anyway, back to the enigma, any ideas?"

Again, no one replied, the Doctor looked annoyed.

"Oh C´mon" he still looked annoyed "Say something, don´t just stay there waiting for some nut-brown fancy cool fez" he looked at the buttons "Anyway, different from the first, the question here is: Which first?"

"Nut-brown fancy cool fez?" River asked, glaring at him "That´s too specific, were you thinking about fezzes while stuck in a cave with me?"

"Yes" he uttered loudly "I do that all the time, you know?" he smiled "Fezzes are cool"

"What if?" Clara started, the Doctor and River turned to her.

"What if what?" The Doctor said, showing a bit of eagerness.

"What if that first refers to the first button" Clara tried her chance.

"It really could be but…"

"But there are no first buttons in here" River finished.

"Hey!" the Doctor looked indignant "Why have you to stop me all the time?" River smiled "But River is right, we don´t know which first is the first, SO" he emphasized the SO word "That means the first in the inscription is something else, something…" he looks everywhere "Lying …around …here" said word by word while examining the chamber.

"What about challenges?" Clara tried again her luck.

"Challenges?" he became thoughtful "It´s a nice idea, actually" he clapped "Ok" he snapped his fingers, he seemed confident "Supposing it is challenges, the question is: What did we do back in the first room?"

"We pressed a button" Clara proceeded hesitantly.

"Nope" he replied "We pressed THE button, now the next question is: What can be different from that?"

"Pressing all the buttons" River said, walking towards the buttons.

"Exactly" the Doctor noticed River was about to do some crazy thing "River?" she continued unabated "What do you think you are doing?"he shouted, he was now concerned, however River did not stop "No" he shouted "Stop, Stoooooop!"

River pressed all the buttons one after another, the Doctor closed his eyes in trepidation.

Minutes later…

"Heey" Clara called the Doctor "Doctor! Open your eyes"

"er… what?" the Doctor replied, opening one of his eyes, he was still quaky "Hello" he sees Clara and opens the other eye, then he stood up "arms…" he checks his arms with his hands "Checked, legs…" he does the same thing to his legs "Checked" he then put their hands on his face "I still have a head I suppose, Okay I´m fine" he seemed recomposed, and then he turned to both Clara and River "What happened?"

"Nothing, sweetie, and I pressed all those buttons"

"River" he walked towards her, he looked furious "Never, ever do that again, did you even think about the consequences?"

"Should I answer that?" she smiled at him.

"You better not" he replied, knowing already the answer.

"If pressing all the buttons isn´t the solution, something else is" Clara stated and the Doctor turned to her thoughtful.

"Yes, think, think, think" the Doctor began to slap himself on the forehead "Different from the first, equal to the second, which is which?"

River looked as if she discovered something.

"It´s obvious" she cried out.

"How is it obvious?" the Doctor turned to her threateningly.

"It is" she continued "Think, what did you do in the first room?"

"I pressed the button" he looks at Clara "We did" he corrected himself not figuring out yet River´s idea.

"Exactly, and what did you do in the second one?"

The Doctor seemed thoughtful.

"We pressed the middle button" Clara intervened.

"What she said" the Doctor added.

"Ok then" River put forward her idea "What is the opposite of the middle button?"

The Doctor began to understand River´s idea.

"The side ones" he looked as if he already understood it.

"But there are two" Clara remembered it to them "How can we know which one we should press"

"Yes, River, how?" the Doctor inquired now not so enlightened about River´s plan.

"We don´t have to" she replied, both Clara and the Doctor became puzzled.

"Of course we have to" he growled…

"No, we don´t" River interrupted him and he looked furious about it "I didn´t finish yet, back to the first question, what is the opposite from pressing a button?"

Clara and the Doctor took a while, but they didn´t find an answer.

"Ok, I answer" she proceeded " We don´t press a button" the Doctor was about to reply "Let me finish" she warned and the Doctor stared intimidatingly at her "We press more than one, and since there are two side buttons, that´s the ones which must be pressed"

The Doctor let out a "ow" out loud, he understood it.

"I did not" Clara stated "The only thing you guys did was blabbing about the opposites, but we have to see not only the opposite but also the equalness… it says in the lettering"

"No" the Doctor said "Just think, if you are seeing right a thing that is different, that is because it is really different, BUT if you are seeing wrong a thing that looks right, it means it is equally wrong" he thought about what he said "Equally wrong, funny blend of words, I think I could say this for days… Equally wrong, equally wrong" he paused again "Anyway" he snapped out of it "No matter how do you look at this, you have to think in the opposites of the previous chambers"

He turned to River smiling, she returned the smile.

"Oh, River, brilliant as ever" he kisses her, and then he became ashamed "Ok, let´s pretend this didn´t happen" River smiled and the Doctor stepped away from her "Anyone wants to do it?"

"What?" Clara exclaimed "Why would we kiss River?"

"No" he shouted "Of course not, that would be silly…I was referring to the buttons" he pointed at them "Anyone wants to press them?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry guys, I took a bit longer than I expected but English is not my main language and I found myself to have a lot of trouble on realizing this chapter, anyway even though I revised the chapter several times there may be some typos on it so be free to criticize it the way you wish, nice reading.**

Clara pressed the first and the last button simultaneously and once again, everyone was teleported, however, River and the Doctor became separated from Clara and River´s men on two different chambers.

Meanwhile, In Clara´s chamber.

"Oh" Clara seemed dizzy "Such an awful feeling, it seems that every time we are teleported, we get headaches as well" she turned to everyone "Is everyone fine?" Clara then noticed that River and the Doctor were not among them "Doctor? River?"

One of the men spoke for the first time.

"Miss Clara, I think we got teleported to a different cave from Mister Doctor and Miss River"

"Hey, you actually speak, what´s your name, boy"

"Jack, Miss Clara" Clara stared at him.

"Don´t call me Miss, please, just Clara"

"As you wish, Miss Clara" Clara gave a menacing look at him.

"Clara, sorry, just Clara"

"Haa, you got it" she smiled at Jack, however, she still looked concerned "but what can we do without them?" she noticed there was another inscription at the end of the room.

Clara went towards the inscription and tried to read.

"Ok" she raised her head to the soldiers and then she put her eyes on the stone again "I don´t know what is this" she showed the inscription to everyone "anyone is able to read this?"

Everyone denied, but Jack stepped forward, approached Clara and took the inscription from Clara´s hands.

"I know some of these characters, but" he paused for a bit, he tried to read the scripture and shook his head "I´m afraid I can´t help you with this" he tried his luck once again "No, I´m sorry, Mi…" he realized what he was about to say and corrected himself "Clara."

Clara felt a bit useless without the Doctor.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and River were together inside a similar cave to the one of Clara.

"Ow, my head" the Doctor complained resting his hands on his head "It hurts"

"Yeah" River replied also dizzy "It seems these headaches are getting worse and worse each time we got teleported"

The Doctor noticed that only him and River were in that cave.

"Oh, no no no no no" he looked all over the place but Clara wasn´t with them, then he threateningly turned to River "River, what´s this?"

"I… I don´t know" she realized the Doctor was really upset with her "I´m sorry my love, I really didn´t know this would happen"

"But it did" he growled "Aaarrgh" he approached River and threatened her "If something happens with Clara, I swear" he took a pause and stepped back "Aagh, sorry, sorry River, I just…"

River noticed there was another inscription there and stepped towards it.

"Sweetie?" she called him and he turned to her "Hear this"

River began to read.

"Double is the mind and the body

Double is the button and the cave

If it´s the double you really crave

The one you must save".

Ten buttons arranged in a straight line appeared and the Doctor looked thoughtful.

"That´s it" he shouted excited "Double is the button and the cave, we must have been teleported to two different caves with the exact same buttons, we are in this one, Clara and your men in the other" The Doctor´s rage turned into joy "Now, double is the mind and the body, I guess that means what I just said, that Clara and your men are in the second chamber" he became thoughtful " Now, those two last verses, If it´s the double you really crave, the one you must save"

The Doctor looked at River more enthusiastic and proceeded with his idea.

"So" he shuffled his hands, he looked confident "I guess both of us want the double, this means, we and Clara together, to do it, the one you must save" he then looked thoughtful "The one you must save" he repeated thinking out loud "But this is antithetical, the three first verses refer about the doubleness but… the one you must save, the question here is: what is this one all about?

"It´s obvious" River cried out and the Doctor stared at her clueless.

"Only if it is for you because I´m not getting it" the Doctor stated and River smiled at him.

"Yes, it is, that one is the bond between the doubles, I mean, we have to unify every single thing that both caves have"

"What do you mean?" he asked interrupting River.

"Basically we and the ones in the other cave must act as if we were one.

"Oh yeah, it could be" the Doctor stated sarcastically "Except it´s completely impossible" he growled firm " Just look at where you are, we are completely separated from them, how can you expect to both of us act like one?"

"I didn´t reach that part yet, but think, what is common to both chambers?"

"I don´t know" he said and then he seemed thoughtful "Except maybe the buttons, this and Clara´s cave should have the exact same buttons"

"Yeah" River seemed to understand.

"But" the Doctor interrupted her once again "What are we supposed to do with them?"

"That´s easy, if both of us want to act like one, then both of us have to press the exact same button"

"Silly Doctor" he slapped himself "Of course it is, the difficulty of this problem lies not in the enigma itself but in its realization" he turned to the buttons "Moreover, now there are 10 buttons and we must press the same one as Clara the question is: How can we know which? There is no singular button, no middle button, no side button, there are two of each one in this disposition, and we can´t just guess one at random.

"Why not?" River asked "One out of ten is well worth a try"

"No" he growled "Stop it River, now it´s not just a scratch on your arm that will happen if we fail, Clara´s life is in danger, we have to think about it carefully"

"Okay sweetie, then think, you are usually good at that"

"Yes, I´m usually am but I can´t just logically know what is in Clara´s mind at the moment"

"Who said it had to be logical?" River asked.

"Who said it didn´t" the Doctor replied with a question.

"I do, you might not know, but Clara is a human" the Doctor stared fishily at her "And humans usually don´t think when they are in despair, they are heavily influenced by feelings, so, the true question is: What does she love the most?"

"How am I supposed to know that?" he protested "She is my companion, not my wife or something like that"

"Yes, I know that, I am your wife just in case u had forgotten" the Doctor seemed embarrassed "Nevertheless, I think we both know what that thing might be"

"Do we?" the Doctor inquired confusedly "You can do, but I´m not seeing what"

"Of course you are, it´s obvious, you" she emphasized the word _you _"You are the most important thing to her"

"Me?" he seemed incredulous "Oh" he realized River could be right "Yes, I suppose you are right, but anyway, how can we relate it with the buttons?"

"The letters, Doctor…D-O-C-T-O-R, six letters, sixth button, that´s the button she will press, believe me"

"Oh" he seemed to understand, then he become thoughtful "Except if"

"Except if what?" River asked.

"You can be right about all of that but there is a slight detail you didn´t consider yet, a very important one"

**PS: I already have a draft of the next chapter so it won´t take as much as this one to be published.**


	5. Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Clara was now restless and walking in circles.

"Miss" Jack paused when he realized his mistake "Sorry, Clara, do you believe in the Doctor right?"

"Yes, of course I believe, but he is not here and no one here can read that and we won´t be able to leave this room and…"

Jack noticed Clara was talking too quickly, maybe because of her jitters, so he interrupted her.

"Hey, calm down" he tried to soothe her "River is with the Doctor, don´t you think that, with those two together, we are in safe hands?"

"Yeah" she took time to think about Jack´s words, this apparently eased her "I suppose you got a point" she seemed a bit more amused now "But what are we supposed to do?"

"Wait" Jack replied with a smile on his face "Waiting is now our only and last resort, but don´t worry, I have a feeling that we won´t have to wait much longer" he smiled, Clara returned his smile.

River and Doctor´s chamber.

"I´m not getting it, sweetie, what is possibly escaping me?"

"Your idea presupposes Clara is able to read the inscription, but what if she can´t?"

The Doctor began to walk all over the place while speaking to River.

"Actually, this is not a possibility, it´s a reality, in fact, Clara can´t read Maarean, this means, she can´t ever know what does she have to do" –he stopped and stared at River "Are any of your men able to read Maarean?"

"No" she replied thoughtfully "As far as I know, none of them is"

"As I supposed, so we have to" he hesitated, he wasn´t finding the correct word "Somehow teach Clara how to read it, at least just that inscription, if we can do it, we win"

The Doctor then looked amused, however, River seemed even more concerned.

"But it´s impossible" she stated "We can´t do that, we can´t even leave this room first of all"

"Oh, you are so wrong there" he smiled, and then he lifted a finger "Yes, we can leave this place" he seemed thoughtful "Well, technically no, we can´t, but as a matter of fact, we don´t need to do it" he then looked at River´s arm, River was now even more confused than before.

"I´m still not getting it" she said.

"It doesn´t matter if you get it or not" he interrupted her "Do you still have your teleportation device with you?"

"Yes, it´s here" Clara took off the device in her arm and gave it to him "But it´s not worth it, I already tried to get out of this place, it´s impossible" the Doctor smiled.

"Are you paying the minimal attention to what I say?" he asked loudly "I already said I didn't need to get out of here to execute my plan"

"Yeah, I heard that, but I already told you I didn't get it, and I´m still not getting it yet"

"Oh" he became thoughtful "Ok then, let me explain"

The Doctor straightened his bowtie and, once again, he began to walk in circles.

"I´ve been analyzing this cave since I entered it, and do you know what did I discover?" he let River think "I´ll tell you, this cave, better, all this caves are just a single one, a single cubic inter dimensional box, so" he turned and pointed at the walls "What are those walls?" he paused again "I´ll explain, in truth that are not walls, that is … er" he shuffled his hands trying to depict what he couldn´t explain "Somehow the cave itself gave us the idea of being trapped in a small area, those walls are nothing more but a barrier in your mind created by the cave, that´s why I told you the walls had nothing to do with the buttons earlier ago" River was about to interrupt him but he extended an open hand telling her to wait "Now, you must be thinking right now you could easily dodge the walls by not thinking of them" River´s face indicated he guessed it right "But you can´t" he resumed "The reason is that this cave is constantly creating in your mind the idea of the barrier, even if you forget it for a moment, the cave remembers it for you, now, back to my idea, if this and Clara´s chamber are in the same cave, am I not able to travel to there with your device?

River began to understand.

"It´s brilliant, but wouldn´t the cave prevent the travel itself as well?"

"That´s the second part of my plan, a really great one I must say"


	6. Chapter 6

"So, this cave, these four walls you think you are seeing, are only in your imagination" he shuffled his hands "A… it´s complicated but in short, your thoughts prevent you from leaving this place" River´s face became one of doubt "And yes, believe me, thoughts can be that powerful, however" he lifted a finger "There is a way to dodge that barrier"

The Doctor straightened his bow tie and spoke directly to River.

"With this teleportation device, I won´t travel in space,but in time" River made a weird expression as if she didn't understand the Doctor´s words "Oh, c´mon" he looked annoyed "Is that so hard to understand? Just think a bit" The Doctor began to perform gestures in order to help River to understand "The barrier created by your mind works as a physical barrier, a spatial barrier, to be concrete, so, we can easily dodge it by travelling in time, and" he emphasized the AND word "Since all this caves are just a single one, we are not getting out of it, did you understand?"

River looked amazed by the Doctor´s speech.

"It´s… it´s brilliant, so if I got it right, you are going to the past to tell Clara what button she must press, you are a genius sweetie.

"uh, no, you are still wrong, well at least partly" River began to not understand once again "So, yes I´m going to the past but no, I can´t ever tell Clara what button she must press, what I´m going to do is just telling Clara what the inscription says, then we must hope she presses the right one"

"But why?" River asked confused "Wouldn´t it be simpler telling her the button instead telling what the inscription means?"

"No, she is a telepathic being, a really very telepathic being" River seemed speechless "She wants us to act like one, to think like one, that´s why all means of communication are shut off, in other words, if I tell Clara to press the wibbly wobbly button, we are not following her rules, and if we don´t follow her rules, it won´t work and we risk being stuck inside here" he took a pause to think "Maybe… forever"

"She?" River asked clueless "Since when Is Clara a telepathic being?"

"er… What?" he cried out with a shade of surprise "Of course not" he shouted in an indignant tone "That would be silly, I was referring to the cave" he pointed at it.

The Doctor went towards one of the walls and started to caress her.

"This cave, it´s a she, isn´t that obvious?"

"A she?" River seemed incredulous "How can a cave be a she?

"I´ll explain it later, now I have stuff to do… Bye!" he waved, smiling, and then he vanished letting River alone.

"There he goes" she approached the wall and felt it "A she? How can you be a she?"

The Doctor travelled to some minutes earlier.

"Big red buttons, you know me way too well… big red buttons, you knew I wouldn't refuse a request made like that, the question here is: Why would you want to have me in here?... Oh and please don´t say spoilers" the Doctor heard these words.

"I remember this" he started to think about it "Anyway" he snapped out of it "I must put my thoughts in Clara´s head, and quickly"

"Ok… it´s not spoilers… even though I´m now spoiling saying it´s not spoilers?" This was River´s talking to the past Doctor.

The past Doctor then noticed the Doctor was behind Clara, this one told him by gestures not to tell anyone he was there.

River was about to turn to Clara, and therefore she would notice the Doctor, realizing it, the past Doctor drew River´s attention.

"Anyway… weren´t you in Stormcage?"

River turned to the past Doctor and replied.

"Yes, I was, but I´m not anymore, they let me out, I spent too much time in there.

The past Doctor gained time enough to let the Doctor transmit his thoughts about the inscription to Clara´s mind.

"This should be enough" the Doctor said to himself and then he teleported again.

The Doctor returned to River´s almost exact time and place he left her.

"Ow" she looked surprised "Here already?"

"Yeah" he smiled "I´m the king of effectiveness" he said smugly.

"Were you able to transfer your thoughts or whatever that is called to her?"

"Yes, it´s done, she should receive them in about…" he looked at his wristwatch "Two minutes"

At Clara´s room, two minutes later.

"Ow" she cried out in a pain "This feeling… aaaaaa" Jack became astonished "But what´s this?" she asked still dizzy.

Jack, seeing Clara in a pain, tried to understand what was happening.

"Are you alright, miss Clara?"

"Yeah, I suppose" she began to receive the message sent by the Doctor, it seemed to be some telepathic stuff "Wait, the Doctor, the Doctor is in my head."


End file.
